The NHS is facing a huge number of compensation claims after it has been found that an operation designed to improve the incontinence which can come from childbirth has left women with worse health issues. Up to 40,000 women are thought to have received the operation and it is thought that 10% of these may have had trouble with the procedure. The operation involves a mesh being used to hold up the pelvic organs however this has been found to disintegrate and embed itself in other parts of the body causing inflammation and infection. The operation has been withdrawn in the US and the regulatory agency in the UK is looking into whether it should still be recommended here. There are concerns that many thousands of women may be seeking compensation if the mesh is found to have been clearly wrong for use in these circumstances.

Two teenage girls have been told that they must pay £5 a week compensation after they were found guilty of stealing designer clothing during riots in Manchester last week. The two girls aged 13 and 14 were caught on CCTV and have been told by a judge that they must pay the compensation from their pocket money. The two girls claimed they were just going along with what others were doing. The judge suggested that they needed to look at the shame their actions had brought on their parents who he described as hard working and respectable people.

Campaigners from the US have come to the UK this week to question BP over the fact that compensation for black people who were affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been thin on the ground. The group who call themselves Operation People for Peace has asked BP to pay $488 million (USD) to small businesses, churches and to ethnic minorities. Dr Art Rocker, the campaign chairman has commented that 90% of the claimants who have come to them are single parents with an average of two children. He suggested these people are most affected by the spill and that those who are disenfranchised have been overlooked by the company in the compensation payments it has made so far. The group say they have been promised more funds, but it hasn't materialised - hence their visit to the UK.

One of the UK's most respected horse trainers has been ordered to pay compensation to a woman he had made redundant while she was pregnant. Julia Bocan claims that John Gosden had rigged the redundancy procedure to ensure she would lose her job after he found out she was pregnant. She had told her colleagues just one month before her dismissal. Miss Bocan said she had suffered sex discrimination from her boss. The tribunal found that Mr Gosden had acted unlawfully when it came to the selection procedure for redundancy as it was unfairly loaded towards making her appear to be the least experienced. The amount of compensation will be decided at a later date. Mr Gosden says he is pleased the allegation of sex discrimination was thrown out, but that he prided himself on being a good employer and had never been to a tribunal before.

Michelle Dragon from Southend has received a six figure compensation payment after she fell down an open manhole in Turkey causing an open fracture of her right shin bone and a head wound. Five years later she still suffers from her injuries. Mrs Dragon fell 12 ft after worker had removed a metal grating leaving the shaft open. She fell onto a concrete floor below. She is thankful that she had insurance to cover her stay in hospital in Turkey and for the flight home with a special nurse. In addition she underwent surgery in the UK. While she was able to return to work, she can only work part time and relies on crutches to get around.